Institute of Forensic Medicine Crime at Castelnau II The Morgue Montpellier, January 7, 1970 Two vintage silver prints, 18.5x21.5 cm, annotations on verso, with reproductions of newspaper articles on the case.

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Les marques du temps, plis, taches, déchirures, quand ils restent minimes et n'affectent pas la possibilité de regarder agréablement l'épreuve ancienne ne sont pas considérés comme des défauts mais comme la nature des objets du passé non restaurés.

Attention aux frais d'expédition pour les grands formats, ils peuvent être plus élevés que les petits dessins ou gravures que nous envoyons en lettre suivie. En général on utilise les services de Mailboxes & Cie pour l'Italie, avec également une possibilité de livraison chaque mois sur Paris.

The idea for this catalog arose from the patient study of a group of 11 small contact prints that stubbornly resisted analysis.

These tiny silver gelatin prints were discovered 15 years ago in a famous New York flea market by a well-known dealer, Lennicher, known as Lenny. Even then, Lenny insisted that these were important works, created by a very famous photographer, although he had forgotten the name. Despite their small size, he was asking a considerable sum for them.

The images depict an abandoned warehouse, focusing on details that look like clues in a photographic investigation: keys hanging from a wooden plank, wear marks on the floor, abandoned shoes and an old radiator. For years, we'd been trying to work out whether these elements corresponded to a famous criminal case, but they didn't, not at all.

In fact, in 1959, the famous Fortune magazine commissioned photojournalist Ralph Steiner to document the story of a very successful American company, the Bissell vacuum cleaner factory. Steiner decided to tell the American success story, starting with the first vacuum cleaner factory in Michigan, circa 1880. In 1959, the building still exists, though it's no longer in use, and Steiner chose to use the aesthetic of an FBI detective or photographer to conduct his investigation.

This means that over a period of around a century, from 1860 to 1960, the development of scientific police photography to solve mysteries, conduct investigations and identify criminals also created a distinct aesthetic category within the history of photography.

It is with this in mind that we present the 127 photographs selected for this catalog.

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Lots are on display during opening days in July-August and early September 2024. Opening hours are generally mornings and late afternoons (Mediterranean seaside hours).

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